Evening's Golden Glow

There are those who swear by the light of of dawn for photographing their garden. I'm not a morning person, so I wouldn't know. Me, I much prefer the golden glow of the setting sun. It's my favorite time to go visit the garden and take pictures. After dinner is time to go sit on my garden bench and watch all the critters visiting my butterfly bush. It's a busy place.

Buckeye

Monarch

Hummingbird Moth

Painted Lady

Silver Spotted Skipper

 

 

 

 

But my favorite part is the way that the evening sun shines it's golden glow over everything.

Starry Night viola

Zinnias patch

More zinnias

Karl Forester reed grass

It's the best time of day.

Favorite container

Garden Therapy

The garden is the place to go when you need a little boost.

 There's just no way to feel blue when you see the beauty out there.

 When you hear the whir of hummingbird wings, you have to smile.

As the fragrance of licorice hits you, you can't help but relax.

 Touch the soft, soft petals of the rose, and your heartbeat slows down.

 Before you know it, you find your spirit soothed.

It's therapy for the soul.

Easy Peasy

The drought and heat that have tortured so much of the country has eased a bit here in central Ohio. Thank goodness!

Granpa Ott's morning glory

We've had an inch and a half of rain so far this month. Temperatures have often dropped out of the 90's.

Coleus corner color

Hummingbird moth

And my garden is responding. It's too late for the veggies, most of them are toast. But the flowers like the new climate and have decided to shape up.

Arbor garden

  It's too late for some of them. I was quite brutal during my last garden clean up, and the slackers were asked to leave. Now only the strong remain.

Full Moon coreopsis and Zebrina mallow

Goldfinch

 The only "weaklings" I am keeping are my roses. For these, I am willing to put forth a little more effort. Besides, I don't find them as high maintenance as others do.

East side rose garden

Garden Party

Hot Cocoa

Tahitian Sunset

The rest of the garden season should be pretty easy peasy around here. And thank goodness for better weather! But please, just a little more rain?

Sunflower bouquet

Ruby throated hummingbird on Sunset hyssop

Summer Lovin'

My love of summer is no secret to anyone. It may be hot, sticky, dry, whatever. I still love it!

Mostly, I love summer because the flowers are in bloom.

All summer long, one after the other, they bloom, and bloom, and bloom.

Now it may not have been the best summer I've ever seen in my garden. There have been casualties.

 But no matter what, there has been something blooming all during this long, hot summer.

There are plenty of other things that I like about summer time. The birds, bees, bugs, and butterflies that visit during the summer are always welcome here.

Believe it or not, there are non-garden related things that I like about summer. Probably the best part to me is simply being warm. I'm one of those people that are often cold. I feel like I spend the whole winter just trying to get warm. No such problem this summer, I've been plenty warm the whole time!

I also like the long days, fresh summer produce, bare feet, vacation trips, beaches, and all the other wonderful things that make up the best season of all. Oh, and the flowers. Did I mention the flowers?

Fernwood Fan

My idea of a vacation is to find the nearest botanical garden to my vacation spot, and visit there. Doesn't matter where I go, if there's a garden nearby, I'll find it. So it's rather surprising to me that I haven't visited Fernwood Botanic Gardens in Niles Michigan for so many years. My hometown of St. Joe is only a half hour away, and I visit there every year. So this time I finally made it down to Fernwood. What a treat!

It was a drizzly, hazy kind of day, but it wasn't enough to keep me away.

But it was enough to keep me close to the visitor center.

I especially enjoyed this border, which didn't seem to have a name. I called it the bog garden. There was a small creek winding through here, and the plantings all looked so natural. Almost like they weren't even planned, yet artfully arranged nonetheless.

I especially liked this pennisetum planted with mouse garlic in between. So pretty and natural.

And this little living willow bridge really caught my eye.

 Found a couple of peaceful sitting spots. Wouldn't you like to curl up with a book here?

 The delightful train garden would surely have tickled the fancy of my small grandson. It's set up with a sensor to detect your presence, so that the train begins to move when you enter the area. What fun! 

Soon the rain became bothersome, so I went inside for a glass of delicious spiced iced tea and a cup of tortilla soup. It was such a peaceful, relaxing day. I can't wait to go back and explore further!